So I made a list of 10 literacy activities you can do with your little ones that take less than 5 minutes to prep for, and some take no prep at all! Everything you need, you can find right in your kitchen! All of these activities are great for building letter recognition, and some can be extended to higher levels by changing the questions you ask.
**Please note, all activities should be done under the watchful eye of a parent or guardian to ensure safety and maximum learning!**
1. Salt Letters
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- small baking pan (with sides for easy clean up),
- 1 cup salt
Steps
This activity works on a child's letter recognition and encoding skills. Simply pour the salt into the pan (as pictured) and tell your child different letters to make in the salt. They can also make piles in the salt to build letters instead of just making them from the depressions in the salt. You can also ask questions like "What letter makes a 'buh' sound? Can you write it in the salt?" As an extra bonus, this gives them sensory enrichment too!
Bitty Learners: If your child isn't yet ready to make their own letters, you can trace one on a piece of paper, and put it down before you put the salt in the pan, this way, the child can trace the letter in the sand while revealing your drawing of the letter. Have them practice multiple times too!
Amp it Up: This is also a fun activity for kids to do with sight words! If your child is at the point of using sight words, they can write sight words in the salt instead of just letters!
This activity works on a child's letter recognition and encoding skills. Simply pour the salt into the pan (as pictured) and tell your child different letters to make in the salt. They can also make piles in the salt to build letters instead of just making them from the depressions in the salt. You can also ask questions like "What letter makes a 'buh' sound? Can you write it in the salt?" As an extra bonus, this gives them sensory enrichment too!
Bitty Learners: If your child isn't yet ready to make their own letters, you can trace one on a piece of paper, and put it down before you put the salt in the pan, this way, the child can trace the letter in the sand while revealing your drawing of the letter. Have them practice multiple times too!
Amp it Up: This is also a fun activity for kids to do with sight words! If your child is at the point of using sight words, they can write sight words in the salt instead of just letters!
2. Dry Spaghetti Letter Building
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- brownie pan (or a baking pan with sides),
- small amount (1/5 pack) of angel hair or uncooked spaghetti pasta
Steps
This activity is another great way for children to build their letter recognition skills! Place the cookie sheet on a surface where your learner is comfortable working (the table, a chair, or the floor) and place the spaghetti inside the pan (so it doesn't scatter everywhere). Ask your child to make different letters with the noodles, and make sure to show them how they can break the noodles to make different sized lines (as seen in the picture). This activity can be a bit challenging for your little learner, because it's helping her to recognize letters in different forms.
You can even get her started by making letters of your own, and have her guess what letters you made!
Bitty Learners: If your learner is not ready to make letters themselves, you can again write your own letter on a piece of paper, have her make it with the noodles, and then have her name the letter! By building letters in this way she is engaging many different sensory processes to help her learn the letter shapes!
Amp it Up: Have your learner combine letters to make short words, sight words, her name, etc. Don't be afraid to use extra noodles ;-).
3. Cooked Spaghetti Letters
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- brownie pan (or a baking pan with sides),
- small amount (1/5 pack) of angel hair or cooked spaghetti pasta
Steps
Although it may seem repetitious, it's important to give our little learners various experiences with building letters that constantly engage their senses and give them different kinesthetic experiences. This helps them to not only retain information and recognize letter forms, but hey, it's boring to do the exact same stuff all the time! For this activity, simply cook up some spaghetti noodles, rinse them in cold water (to cool them and so they don't stick together). Then, place them on the cookie sheet on a surface comfortable for your learner. Next, ask your learner to make different letters with the cooked noodles (as pictured).
I assure you, you will soon here giggles of delight as your little learner manipulates the noodles to make his letters! Show him how you can fold noodles or break them to make them shorter. Also, show them how easy it is to make curves with the cooked noodles, by making an uppercase "B" for example!
Bitty Learners: Again, if your little learner needs a guide for his letter shapes, make sure to give it to him to place his noodles on, or show them the letter they are making by giving them a magnet or a drawing of the letter! We don't want the activity to turn into a drill, so by providing helpful and necessary support even your itty bitties can learn in a meaningful way about letter formation while still having fun!
Amp it Up: Just like before, you can have your learner make words, or his name. Keep in mind too, that your learner always benefits from practicing lowercase letters as well as uppercase letters!
4. Cookie Sheet Magnets
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 cookie sheet,
- alphabet magnets
Steps
This activity is actually really great, because it can take place anywhere you can take a cookie sheet! You can even explore further activities about cookie sheets on Pinterest as Early Childhood teachers have since adapted this instrument by storm! For our purposes, cooking up literacy in the kitchen, all you have to do is take one clean cookie sheet and multiple letter magnets, which will stick to the metallic cookie sheet (as pictured). You can mix up the letters and ask your little learner to find a certain letter by name "Find the A." You can ask her to find letters by sound as well "Which letter makes the Mmmmmm sound?" This is another activity that will help with your child's letter recognition.
Bitty Learners: If your learner is still in the early stages of learning letter recognition, you can write down a letter on a piece of paper or a dry erase board, and ask your child to find the matching letter magnet. Additionally, you could draw their attention to print by bringing out one of their favorite picture books and pointing out a letter for her to find. For example "Look! Clifford starts with a 'C' can you see the 'C'? Now find the magnet 'C!'"
Amp it Up: To increase the challenge, have your learner spell her name, sight words, or help her to spell word families. Whenever she spells a word, have her say the word, sound it out, and spell the word back to you by pointing at the letters. For example "My name is Piper Puh-I-Puh-Er. Piper is spelled P-I-P-E-R." This helps to cement her phonics understanding and her understanding of the alphabetic principle.
5. Muffin tin letters
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 muffin tin,
- 1 piece of paper to rip up and put in each muffin cup,
- 1 pen/marker to label letters,
- game markers for the game (can use Cheerios, Goldfish, anything small)
Steps
First, you'll want to take a sheet of paper, and divide it into 12 different pieces. Rip each piece apart and write a different letter on each piece. Then, place the letters in the muffin depressions (as pictured). Now, give your learner little game markers (such as Cheerios) and ask your learner to put a game piece on the letter spots. For example, "Okay, find the 'H' and cover it with your Cheerio!" Make sure to give plenty of praise when your learner gets it right and support such as reminders of what a letter looks like if he is getting frustrated. Also, don't forget to ask him for a letter that you didn't choose! He will really start to giggle when Mommy or Daddy asked him to find something that wasn't there! This is a great activity because it not only helps with letter recognition, but also with listening comprehension and even fine motor skills!
Bitty Learners: As your learners are just starting to learn their letters, you could use your alphabet magnets or drawings of the letters to help him find the letters in the tin. This gives him some necessary support as he is looking for the letters. "Look at this magnet, it's the letter T. Can you find the T in your tin and put a Cheerio on it?"
Amp it Up: For our older learners, see if they can use their Cheerio markers to spell a word within the tin (to do this, you'll have to make sure you give them some vowels!). Make sure to have them spell their word out loud to you as well. You can also make the directions more complicated "Put 2 Cheerios on the M, 1 on the C, and 3 on the A." Again this is a great way to strengthen their listening comprehension.
6. Egg Carton Shake
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 empty egg carton,
- 1 marker to label letters,
- 1 game marker (Cheerio, Goldfish, anything small)
Steps
I saw this idea at the recent International Literacy Association Conference, and I thought it was absolutely adorable, fun, and simple! It's also great for building letter recognition. All you have to do is take an empty egg carton of whichever size you wish, and label the depressions with different letters (as pictured). Then, put a small game marker, such as a Cheerio in the carton. Have your learner shake, shake, shake, and shake the carton, and then open it. When he opens it, ask him which letter his Cheerio landed on! Then, shake, laugh, open, and repeat!
Bitty Learners: For learners just learning their letters, make sure to give them extra support. This might even be an activity that you would carefully monitor with them, helping them for the first few times, but then praising them highly when they get the hang of those letters! You might even want to give them a half dozen egg carton, so they aren't overwhelmed by the letters and are able to find success more quickly!
Amp it Up: To make it more difficult, for your learner, write some words in with the letter mix. You can also give her more than one game marker, so she is identifying more than one letter at a time. You can ask her if they can think of a word that starts with their letter. "You're right! That's a 'T!' Can you think of a word that starts with 'T?'" Another way to increase difficulty is to give her a larger carton, such as one for eighteen eggs.
7. Cheerio Tracing
Suggested Ages: 18 months-6 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 paper plate, (you can use more if you want to do more letters)
- 1 marker to draw a letter,
- 1 cup of Cheerios
Steps
This is another great activity to work on letter recognition and fine motor skills! Simply take a paper plate, write a larger letter on it, and give your child a pile of Cheerios. Then, have him place Cheerios on the letter to trace it (as shown). This helps children to practice their letter formation skills and letter recognition. When he's done, you can have him wipe the plate clean and remake the letter, or you can have him do another letter on another plate.
Bitty Learners: As your little learners are tracing the letter, you want to make sure to ask them which letter they are working on. Having them repeat the letter as they are tracing it will help them to remember it. You can also talk about the letter they are working on and what sound it makes.
Amp it Up: For older learners, you can give them the plate and have them make the letter without you tracing it first. You can also have them spell out words with their Cheerios or give them the sound of a letter, and have them spell the letter in Cheerios! These extension will really help to challenge your little learners!
8. I Spy an Object that Starts with...
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 expert mommy/daddy,
- 1 or more tiny learners
Steps
Although it may seem simple, this game really helps children to build on their letter and phonics knowledge as well as their phonemic awareness (understanding of sounds in the language). You can start the game by saying "I spy with my little eye something that starts with a 'wuh' sound." Then your child would guess different objects that start with the same sound until she gets to, for example, "water." Then she gets to be the leader and pick something out.
Bitty Learners: For our little learners, we want to make sure to model out thinking about sounds. You might say for example, "Hmmm I'm looking for a 'tuh' sound, but milk starts with a 'mmm' sound. Oh, were you looking at the 'tuh' 'tuh' 'table?'" They will also need more support when looking at objects, so you can pick some and help them hear the first sound, "Hmmm ffffffork starts with a 'ffffffff' sound." Don't be afraid to really stretch out those sounds!
Amp it Up: For our more advanced learners, you'll want to ask them for objects that start with different letters instead of sounds. "I spy with my little eye something that starts with a 'B.'" This is more challenging, because they have to remember what sound a 'B' makes and then locate an object with that sound.
9. Ketchup Bag Letters
Suggested Ages: 2-6 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 Ziplock bag (with a good seal!),
- 1 cookie sheet (to keep the bag contained),
- 1-2 cups ketchup (depending on the size of the bag)
Steps
Although this sounds like it could be a messy activity, when done correctly, it can have minimal clean up and allow for fun sensory letter recognition activities! First, you'll want to put 1-2 cups of ketchup (or other similar condiment of similar consistency) in a Ziplock bag with a STRONG seal! Then, seal the bag, and put it on a cookie sheet. This helps to keep the activity contained! Next, ask your learner to create different letters by tracing them on the ketchup bag (as pictured). Please note, these letters will not look perfect, but this really helps to engage their senses as they create these different letters!
Bitty Learners: For our little learners, you'll want to make sure to give them extra support by showing them the letter they are drawing by either giving them a magnet or writing it on a piece of paper and showing it to them. Remember, this is all in good fun, so keep it fun, and offer praise for successful attempts!
Amp it Up: To increase difficulty, have your child write his name, words, or give him sounds or blends and have him write which letter(s) he would need to make those sounds. Again, keep it fun!
10. Talking out the Steps
Suggested Ages: 3 months-8 years
Materials Needed:
- 1 expert mommy/daddy,
- 1 or more tiny learners
Steps
It may seem simple, but talking out what you are doing to your child in steps can actually greatly help their listening comprehension and their ability to understand narrative text in the future as well as enhance their vocabulary! As you are cooking or working, tell your little learner what you are going to do before you actually start. Then, as you are going through the process, talk through the steps and have your child repeat after you. For example, "Okay Charlotte, first Mommy has to get out the eggs, then crack them, put them in the bowl, and whisk them. So what's Mommy doing now? You're right! She's getting the eggs out!" By doing activities like this, you are prepping your child to be able to identify and understand the narrative story structure within her future reading!
Bitty Learners: For our youngest learners, who may not be able to talk yet, they can still benefit from listening. Make sure that you're telling them exactly what you're doing and show them the different objects you're talking about while you're doing that step. "Look these are the eggs, I'm going to crack them now! Watch! Look at them, I'm cracking the eggs." The more we talk to our little babies, the stronger their language skills will be!
Amp it Up: To increase the difficulty of this activity, you can talk out the steps at the beginning, and then see how many of the steps your child can remember to help guide you through the process. You can also see if she can remember the steps at the end. This would help her to build her memory as well as her understanding of the narrative story structure.
I hope you find these activities useful and a helpful way for you to work with your little learners in the kitchen! Remember to keep it fun! The main goal of these activities is for our tiny ones to practice their literacy skills in a fun and supportive environment! If you have other activities you've done with your learners and want to share below in the comments, feel free! I know it would be beneficial for all!
Thanks again for stopping by, and until next time!
Yours truly in Literacy,
The Reading Specialista
It may seem simple, but talking out what you are doing to your child in steps can actually greatly help their listening comprehension and their ability to understand narrative text in the future as well as enhance their vocabulary! As you are cooking or working, tell your little learner what you are going to do before you actually start. Then, as you are going through the process, talk through the steps and have your child repeat after you. For example, "Okay Charlotte, first Mommy has to get out the eggs, then crack them, put them in the bowl, and whisk them. So what's Mommy doing now? You're right! She's getting the eggs out!" By doing activities like this, you are prepping your child to be able to identify and understand the narrative story structure within her future reading!
Bitty Learners: For our youngest learners, who may not be able to talk yet, they can still benefit from listening. Make sure that you're telling them exactly what you're doing and show them the different objects you're talking about while you're doing that step. "Look these are the eggs, I'm going to crack them now! Watch! Look at them, I'm cracking the eggs." The more we talk to our little babies, the stronger their language skills will be!
Amp it Up: To increase the difficulty of this activity, you can talk out the steps at the beginning, and then see how many of the steps your child can remember to help guide you through the process. You can also see if she can remember the steps at the end. This would help her to build her memory as well as her understanding of the narrative story structure.
I hope you find these activities useful and a helpful way for you to work with your little learners in the kitchen! Remember to keep it fun! The main goal of these activities is for our tiny ones to practice their literacy skills in a fun and supportive environment! If you have other activities you've done with your learners and want to share below in the comments, feel free! I know it would be beneficial for all!
Thanks again for stopping by, and until next time!
Yours truly in Literacy,
The Reading Specialista
